Warnings: Contains sadistic and cold Harry, a confused and useless Severus, and a Lord Voldemort that rules over Great Britain.

Disclaimer: I own none of this except whatever original stuff I can imbue into it.

Beta'd by Blackumbrage

{} is parseltongue

Stockholm Syndrome: A phenomenon in which a hostage begins to identify with and grow sympathetic to his or her captor.

THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME
by Nenya Entwhistle

Chapter 7
Isolation is Hell

Voldemort had not been pleased.  Severus did not even want to think about how Harry would be punished for saving him from certain death.  Why had Harry saved him?  He didn't understand.  It had been foolish for Harry to stand against Voldemort for the sake of a pet that he did not use and had no use for.  Why?  It could not be affection, even if Severus had the sinking feeling that he wanted nothing more than to deny that he did feel something for his Master.  He was a fool. 

The days rolled by and Severus lost track of time.  There was nothing to do but watch the clock that only read: Harry was away.  It never changed, and Severus forgot how long he would stare at it until he would doze off.  Eventually, days and days later he gave up watching the clock and picked up his potions text to read.  He had to get his mind off of thinking of all the awful atrocities being done to Harry.  If he didn't, he'd go insane--- crazy with guilt, mad with remorse.  It was all his fucking fault.  His fault… his fault… his fault…

It was driving him mad to think…

Of Voldemort beating Harry until his back was covered in blood so thick that the scars that had been there were no longer visible against the oozing crimson that drenched his body from neck to buttocks. 

Of Voldemort then sliding his cock in and out of Harry with a brutality that ripped Harry's insides and stained them with a blood amount that almost matched what had been done by the whip on his back. 

Of Voldemort then leaving Harry tied up in a position of humiliation for all the other Death Eaters to see and witness so that he was a clear example of the powerful figure that the Dark Lord would always be. 

For Severus knew that Voldemort did not like his power to be undermined.  For Severus knew, that Harry had done the unforgivable when he had knocked aside the most Unforgivable of all curses.  For Severus knew, that Voldemort could not allow this to go unpunished and for a pet to raise his hand against his Master?  Unforgivable. 

So the minutes, the hours, and the days passed.  The clock kept ticking and Severus kept reading.  There was nothing else he could do but read and try to lose himself in the words.  He didn't even try to make potions because he was so afraid that he'd damage himself by not being focused when brewing the volatile potions.  He just couldn't concentrate.  He was too worried.  Why?  Why was he worried?  Because… strangely, he cared about his Master.  He cared even more than when Harry had been the Boy Who Lived. 

Severus threw the book he'd been reading across the room, watching it hit the wall and slide down with an audible thud.  He was frustrated with himself.  He shouldn't have thrown the book.  It wasn't even his, it was Harry's.  And from how impeccable the condition of the library, Severus knew that Harry cared a great deal about his books.  It was wrong for him to have thrown such a fine text across the room. 

He was about to go and retrieve the book and see if he could soften the lines and tears that the old text undoubtedly would have suffered when he heard the hoarse clearing of a throat and the staggering of a worn body against the door.  Severus whirled around and cried out with relief when he saw Harry leaning against the doorway with exhaustion written over every crevice of his being. 

"Master," Severus exclaimed, rushing over to wrap his arms around Harry's worn out body.  He was amazed to find that it wasn't wet with blood.  Had Voldemort not punished Harry then?  Praise Merlin if that be the case.  "Master?" 

Harry closed his eyes and slumped against Severus's stronger form.  He had not the strength to keep standing.  Severus braced himself and carefully cradled Harry's body against his like a newborn babe.  "Master?" he whispered again, not understanding why Harry was so exhausted when he could see no physical wound on him. 

"He drained me," Potter responded hoarsely, as if knowing exactly what Severus was wondering.  "Voldemort drained all the magic out of me." 

That was the cruelest thing another wizard could do to another that didn't involve physical mutilation.  Actually, Severus would have preferred to be in physical pain than to have to feel the magic stripped from him.  To be magically barren for a time period was worse than any feeling, and even as a pet he still have some magic though a good deal of it was restrained by the magical binding spell that had been placed upon him. 

"It must be hard for you," Potter remarked, "to be powerless when you used to be one of the most powerful wizards in the world."  Severus nodded stiffly.  It was excruciatingly hard.  He stiffened even more when he felt Harry's hand on his face, turning it so that he had to look down upon his Master.  "I release you from the spell." 

The surge of energy that Severus felt in him made him drop Harry in the shock of sensation.  The magic coursing through his veins made his knees buckle with the intensity of the pleasure.  It was orgasmic, the feeling of having his magic there for him to access again.  He could leave now.  He could take his wand, which was ostentatiously displayed in the library and leave this forsaken land.  But to what end…? 

"Why?" Severus rasped, his dark eyes staring down at Harry with miscomprehension.  "WHY?!"

"Because," Potter said softly, weakly, "I understand… finally what it means to be a victim of a situation that you did not want." 

"But you don't have to let me go…" 

Potter laughed the same hollow laugh that Severus was all too familiar with.  "You can go, but you won't get far." 

Whatever amount of freedom that Severus had been feeling was ripped from him in that instant as quickly as it had been given.  That was malicious, for him to feel it at his fingertips and yet be denied it once again.  "You are a cruel, cruel bastard," Severus growled.  He stalked around Harry's prone form and grabbed his wand from where it had taunted him for all these months, there but not his.  "You give me the chance of freedom only to know it is hopeless!"  He whirled around, pointing his wand at Harry furiously.  "What is to stop me from killing you right now?" 

Dead green eyes did not seem a bit concerned; indeed they seemed to be goading him on.  "Go ahead.  Do it." 

Harry had a death wish?  Since when?  What had Voldemort done to Harry to make him suicidal all of a sudden?  That struck Severus as odd and misplaced behavior.  Never had Harry displayed the slightest indication that he would wish for his life to be erased from existence, so why was he toying with it right now?  Damn it!  He wanted to kill Harry to spite him for goading him on with those dead, dead green eyes and yet he knew deep down inside if he killed Harry… he would be alone and there would be no one else.  The only one left was Harry. 

"I hate you," Severus whispered.  "I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!"

Harry let his eyes roll back into his head.  "I hate myself." 

Whatever Severus had been expecting, that was certainly not it.  And he had no reason to doubt that Harry didn't hate himself.  After all, Harry had done such despicable acts that weren't so different from what he had done.  Severus had hated himself after he had become a Death Eater, and he still didn't like himself much now either.  He had learned to deal with it, but he could truly understand hating one's self all too well. 

"Why?" 

"Why not?" Potter retorted.  "After all the things that I have done." 

"You are no worse than I was," Severus remarked.  He wasn't.  True, Harry carried out his job with far more proficiency than he had, but he had never really seen Harry deriving any sadistic pleasure from harming the other people.  He did it because he was required to and he did it with clinical effectiveness. 

"I am worse," Potter murmured.  "You never killed your friends." 

That was a dose of ice water poured over him.  Severus had always wondered on that, how Harry had… done what he had done even if he could understand why Harry would do such a thing, he still didn't see Harry actually doing such a thing.  Harry… in his eyes, in his mind, would always be that perfect Golden Boy. 

"Why did you?" Severus croaked.  "Why?" 

"Because I wanted to." 

Severus felt compelled to point his wand at Harry.  Harry was sick.  He was sick.  Everyone was sick.  The world was sick.  Everything was going so horribly wrong.  If only Dumbledore hadn't done this, if only things could have been different.  If only, if only, too many possibilities that could have been done to prevent the future that they were now living in.  "Tell me you aren't this monster!" Severus cried.  "Tell me you aren't!" 

"I am," Potter proclaimed in that cold voice that Severus hated to hear, "what I am." 

"You are not a monster," Severus denied for him, having to deny for him because he didn't want to think that Harry was as much of a monster as Voldemort was.  He couldn't believe that Harry was a monster because Harry was rather nice to him at times and a monster couldn't be nice to someone that had been so horrible to him as he had been, could Harry?  But then, his pessimistic doubting side added, he always plays mental games with you that get to you more than any of the physical tortures.  "You are not a monster."

"I am a monster," Potter murmured darkly.  "I am a monster that haunts you in terribly private ways.  Did I not break you?"  Severus shuddered, Harry had broken him.  "Did I not get you to sympathize with me in a way that no one else has?"  Oh yes, Severus did sympathize with Harry, oh too well.  "Did I not get you to trust me, your most hated enemy?"  Yes.  YES.  YES!  "I did all these things and I was somewhat kind along the way, only to get you to relate yourself so much that now you are living a satisfactory existence in your thoughts as a perfect prisoner, am I not right?" 

Harry was right.  Harry was horribly right.  God, Severus almost hated him for it. 

"You don't have to physically torture a person," Potter remarked, "to break him.  I broke you, Snape.  I broke you badly.  You're utterly mine now in a way that you have never been anyone's.  Not Voldemort's and certainly not Dumbledore's.  You are mine in a way that I don't have to mark you and yet you crave my presence.  You wonder, don't you, where I am when I'm gone.  You worry about me when I'm gone, and yet I am the one that imprisons you.  Oh, Snape, how much you have been broken… and it's all been my handiwork." 

Oh god, it was all true.  Severus dropped his hand and fell to his knees.  He was broken.  He was living what he had feared to be living under, the nightmare that haunted his dreams.  He was living under it so perfectly that he had started justifying Harry's behavior, relating it so that his Master wouldn't seem that removed or that unkind.  Certainly, Harry could be kind but he wasn't any kinder than any of the other people in his life.  The books, yes, but Dumbledore had given him books too and so had Voldemort.   It was all the justification that a person enthralled made.  Excuses, excuses, excuses. 

Damn him.  Damn Harry.  Damn himself. 

Author's Note: Finals are finally over!  Yay!  I'm almost done with this series, I only have 1.25 chapters more to write.  Sorry I haven't been releasing.  I do have chapters done, it's just that I haven't had any time to go through my beta corrections.  Review and the next chapter will be up ASAP. 

Thanks to the following reviewers (who keep me going):

Cat Samwise: And there is MORE ;). 
HPIceAngel: Ho ho ho!  I was going for dark, but THE darkest?  Very cool compliment.
Ashes7: Thanks, I will!
Krista: Yay!
lillinfields: Speechless is good. ^_^.
texasjeanette: We'll see what happens, I won't know until I write it.  And I agree with you.  Harry won't ever be light again. 
riantlykalopsic: I don't know about dark Harry being uncharted, but this is a relatively new angle I think.
Mynona: It'll be on Inkstain or you could email me for the NC-17.
procrastinating: Thanks.
The Goddess Artemis: -snickers- That might not happen or it may.
Kateri1: Thanks.
Winnie2: Haha.  Voldemort's a snake, how else will he take it but both ways?

GO REVIEW…

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